TETRA PAK SUSTAINABILITY

Working with local and international partners, the sustainable milk collection hub offers a robust network of collection points plus essential training in animal health and milk production

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​A track record of commitment and innovation

​At Tetra Pak, our approach to sustainability is shaped by our brand promise – PROTECTS WHAT’S GOOD™. Clearly, that’s about protecting food through the processing, packaging and servicing that have long been the core of our business. But it goes further. It is also about protecting people: our own employees, as well as the communities in which we work and society as a whole. And it is about protecting futures: by developing the products and services that will support the future business growth of our customers; by acting and operating in ways that protect our future environment; and by driving a sustainable growth agenda that ensures the future success of Tetra Pak.​

SHAPING THE SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA

​When Tetra Pak added its name to the Paris Pledge for Action at COP21 in December 2015, we reinforced our long-standing commitment to taking the initiative in helping tackle climate change. This pledge forms part of our climate goal to cap our emissions across the value chain at 2010 levels through to 2020, despite higher levels of production. In 2016, we also signed up to RE100, committing us to increasing our use of renewable electricity from 22% today to 100% across our global operations by 2030.

Other 2016 highlights include being cited as a global leader by the CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), an independent non-profit organisation that provides the only disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. This, along with the award of a position on the CDP’s Supplier Climate A-list, was in recognition of our actions and strategies in response to climate change. We were also recognised for a second consecutive year in CDP’s Forests programme as a sector leader in timber-based products – one of only eight companies to receive this accolade.

​We also committed to support and work to achieve the UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. And we became a corporate member of the Circular Economy 100 (CE100). This programme, set up by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, supports the development of a circular economy; one that is restorative and regenerative by design.

BUILDING IT RIGHT

Our technical innovations – and their specific contributions to reduced impact on the environment – are presented in the Technology section and Highlights. These include: extensive use of renewable materials; portion packages with openings suitable for on-the-go consumption that avoid waste; ice cream fillers with enhanced components that reduce product spills; carton products that are lighter, safer and easier to transport than cans; and extensive energy-saving automated features built into ever-smarter machines. Many of our product innovations are responses to consumer demand for products with lower environmental impact.

DELIVERING SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

The people side of the sustainability story isn’t just about consumers or employees. Sometimes it extends to production, too: for example, the Dairy Hub set up by Tetra Laval’s Food for Development team in the Jaffna District of Sri Lanka, when the local economy was still in tatters following the country’s long civil war. Working with local and international partners, the sustainable milk collection hub offers a robust network of collection points plus essential training in animal health and milk production – vital in an area that had no tradition of dairy farming and little expertise.​